FORT THOMAS Begging has become the norm at council meetings since April as an organized group of residents fights to overturn the city's ban on pit bull dogs.

Council's safety committee met at 5:30 p.m. Monday for 90 minutes and heard for 30 minutes from a dozen of the about 50 people in attendance.

City Administrator Donald W. Martin delivered a report detailing different city laws banning, partially banning and allowing pit bulls with registration. Doing nothing, and leaving the ban in place is also an option, Martin said. The safety committee had a second meeting Monday to discuss allowing pit bulls in the city and lifting the 1988 ban. Those in the audience spoke both in support of the ban and for ending it.

Committee chairman Thomas R. Lampe said there is an ordinance in place that provides safety, and the committee needs to continue discussion without making any recommendations yet.

"There's no need to rush," Lampe said.

Preston Manning of Altamont Lane said he started going door to door with a petition to keep the ban on pit bulls. Manning said he gathered 271 names.

Manning said he was not aware of council's discussion about possibly repealing the ban.

That is until a loose pit bull approached him a month ago in his own driveway where his 4-year-old daughter plays.

"It's about what the residents in Fort Thomas want, and what makes them feel safe at the end of the day," Manning said.

Resident Robert Masters said it seems like a group of people that doesn't necessarily represent all of the city is leading the discussion.

"We seem to have an ordinance in place that works," Masters said. "Why change it?"

Deborah Weeks of Amelia, Ohio, brought her 10-year-old pit bull and service dog Buddy to the meeting. Weeks said she is disabled, and Buddy helps her reach items and get up from the ground when she falls. The city needs to consider service dogs in the discussion, she said.

"I worry about where I go that he may be taken away from me, and they may not know the federal law that allows me to have him," Weeks said.

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Deborah Weeks, of Amelia, Ohio, brings her service dog Buddy, a pit bull, to the July 7 Fort Thomas City Council safety committee meeting.(Photo: Chris Mayhew/The Community Recorder)

Residents opposed to the ban, including Kevin Bunge, have been asking council to eliminate the ban immediately.

Prior to the meeting, Bunge said he was advised by the city's animal control officer two years ago while walking his dog, Buddy.

"She thought he was a pit," he said. "She told me I wasn't allowed to have that type of dog in Fort Thomas."

He had Buddy tested, and found out the dog is part English bulldog and part Jack Russell terrier. The dog has no pit bull DNA, Bunge said.

The DNA test was given to a city police officer to be filed, and everything was fine until April, he said.

"I was here in the park and an officer stopped me and told me I wasn't allowed to have that kind of dog in the dog park," Bunge said.

Bunge said he was able to convince the officer Buddy was not a pit bull or a threat.

"He's never harmed anybody, he's never been aggressive," Bunge said. "I mean they were just basing it off what he looked like."

City resident Gina Stegner, said she was asked to speak by the informal group of residents and others seeking to have the pit bull ban repealed.

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Tammy Nolan of Fort Thomas displays photos of her former pit bull dog Kendall at Fort Thomas' Highland Hills Park Monday, June 30. Nolan helped found the dog park in 2004 and brought Kendall to the park to walk with city officials despite the city's pit bull ban. The city erected the sign she is standing next to in April(Photo: Chris Mayhew/The Community Recorder)

The group has been concerned about the city's breed-specific legislation for years. The pit bull ban really became an issue when Bunge was stopped two years ago, Stegner said. He was cited and given five days to get rid of Buddy, she said.

"Kevin had to pay for an expensive DNA test to prove his dog was not a pit bull and to be able to keep it in the city," Stegner said.

Bunge's story was discussed at the dog park regularly, she said. People then scheduled meetings and gathered facts.

"We started a (private) group on Facebook that began with just a few people and has grown to be 800 people including experts on the subject," she said.

Group members are gathering and presenting facts, Stegner said.

"This decision needs to be a decision based on facts, not emotions," she said. "We want legislation that provides true public and animal safety for all."